Marcus: A Life of Giving & Quantum-Gravity Enthusiasm

[Orodruin]

Very sad to hear about this. Although we did not cross paths in the forums many times, it was always clear that he was a role model and incredibly valuable to the forum in terms of both knowledge and spirit. My strongest condolences.

 

[Garth]

What a loss - a truly inquisitive mind - a great loss to PF and to me personally, tamwuff please pass on all our condolences to your family.

Garth

 

[Dale]

Hi everyone -- Marcus's son here. Thank you all for the love and warmth here in this thread

My condolences and sympathy. Thank you for letting us know. My heart goes out to you and your family.

 

[bapowell]

Patient, friendly, modest, and overflowing with knowledge. I'm very sad to hear this. We'll miss you Marcus.

 

[QuantumQuest]

My sincere condolences . I really learned a lot from Marcus posts and I think that a great lot of people here have learned from his very well informed and accurate answers and posts. May he rest in peace.

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

Sad to hear, the BSM forum really seem to lose its major contributor. (with regards to posts).

 

[ZapperZ]

Hi everyone -- Marcus's son here. Thank you all for the love and warmth here in this thread.

To answer the question about "what happened", it was esophagus cancer -- we found out about it in September, but by that point it was advanced to a level where not much could be done. We tried anyway -- chemo, radiation, etc. But, well...

I know he cared a whole lot about all of you guys. When I would see him or talk to him on the phone, he would often update me on what was going on here on PF, and how he was starting a poll or posting a summary of various papers or whatever else he would do on a regular basis. I empathized with how he felt about PF, since my generation grew up with the internet and I thought it was wonderful to see him bonding as deeply with you guys as I've bonded with the online communities I'm part of.

You guys rock. Hugs to you all.

@tamwuff Our PF loss here is certainly not as profound as the loss that you and your family feel. So please accept my condolences.

Marcus certainly was the one who single-handedly ran the BTSM forum for as long as I can remember. There was no doubt that it was his baby.

Zz.

 

[jtbell]

I'm very sorry to hear this. Marcus has been a constant presence here, as far back as I can remember. Of course, it has been a longer presence for his family, who have the greater loss. My condolences to them.

 

[George Jones]

My condolences to you, tamwuff, and to the all of marcus' family. Marcus and I never met in person, but I certainly consider Marcus to be a friend. Marcus and I had many, many interesting discussions about cosmology that were very enlightening for me. He has an enduring invaluable legacy here at Physics Forums; I am sure that years from now, I will search Physics Forums for some particular topic in cosmology, and I will find the information that I seek in posts by marcus.

 

[cristo]

Hi everyone -- Marcus's son here. Thank you all for the love and warmth here in this thread.

To answer the question about "what happened", it was esophagus cancer -- we found out about it in September, but by that point it was advanced to a level where not much could be done. We tried anyway -- chemo, radiation, etc. But, well...

I know he cared a whole lot about all of you guys. When I would see him or talk to him on the phone, he would often update me on what was going on here on PF, and how he was starting a poll or posting a summary of various papers or whatever else he would do on a regular basis. I empathized with how he felt about PF, since my generation grew up with the internet and I thought it was wonderful to see him bonding as deeply with you guys as I've bonded with the online communities I'm part of.

You guys rock. Hugs to you all.

My condolences to you and your family, @tamwuff, I'm so sorry to hear this. Marcus had an enormous presence here at PF, and taught me a lot about cosmology when I was much younger and just starting out in my career. He had a vast knowledge of many different areas, and his keen interest in following the quantum gravity literature -- and understanding it -- was inspiring. Marcus will be sorely missed, and leaves a legacy here at PF.

 

[Isaac0427]

This is very upsetting. I really never got to know him that well on here, but he has posted on my threads and was exteremely helpful. I know he will be missed by all of us.

 

[Astronuc]

Hi everyone -- Marcus's son here. Thank you all for the love and warmth here in this thread.

tamwuff, thank you for the notification. We are greatly saddened by the passing of marcus. It is hard to comprehend at the moment. I had a number of pleasant exchanges with marcus, mostly on ancient history and culture, as well as a few on astrophysics and cosmology.

marcus certainly established a high standard at PF. Now he is among the stars with other giants of PF, selfAdjoint, whom he mentioned in the thread cited by Greg B, and arildno, with whom he shared an interest in old literature and history. Peace upon him and your family and friends whom have lost such a wonderful person. He is forever in our hearts and minds.

Another thread started by marcus with contributions by selfAdjoint.
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/perche-i-nostri-discorsi-galileo-quoted-by-rovelli.6963/

 

[HossamCFD]

I'm very saddened by this news. marcus was one of a kind. He was a great educator with a brilliant writing style and immense knowledge, he explained complex ideas with a lot of patience, and he never made anyone feel bad for taking time to understand what's being said.

My sincere condolences.

 

[micromass]

I am very saddened by this loss. I can't imagine how the family must feel. My feelings regarding the loss of this exceptional man are probably less than 1% of what the family has to go through, and I am already devastated.

I am very glad that marcus found in this forum a safe haven. A place to discuss his interests with peers. We will surely miss him a lot.

I just wish he could have read all these messages before he passed away. I hope he knew how loved he was.

 

[Tobias Funke]

I'm sorry to hear this. I don't go much into the more academic forums anymore but I've seen enough of his posts to know that he was one of the best that PF has to offer, and that's saying something.

 

[mfb]

My condolences to his family.

No...

That is a good summary.

 

[fuzzyfelt]

 

[cnh1995]

I never had the chance to interact with @marcus since I have no background of many of his areas of expertise. But seeing his profile, content and feelings of members in this thread, I can see he had a vast scientific knowledge. He was surely one of the best science advisors here on PF! I now wish I had a little knowledge of any of those topics and I could interact with him. It would have been a great experience! My condolences to his family! Rest in peace marcus!

 

[naima]

Condoléances de France.

 

[Borek]

R.I.P. marcus.

You are the legend.

 

[Haelfix]

I'm very sad to hear this. My condolences to his family. He had a deep, childlike enthusiasm for our subject that I think everyone could learn from.

 

[DennisN]

Hi everyone -- Marcus's son here. Thank you all for the love and warmth here in this thread.

My condolences. I interacted with him a couple of times. He was a frequent poster in the Cosmology and Beyond the Standard Model forum, and he was always friendly and very interested in many things. I am sad by the news .

 

[blue_leaf77]

I have since long known that if I decided to cling actively on a forum like PF comprising people of all ages, on a certain day I will get notified about the resignation of a certain member. Just, I never have thought that this time's notification of leave, that came less than two years since I joined in PF, is about an unwakeable rest.
For a theory that bears the potential of revolutionizing physics, Marcus's retirement is a big loss.
Deep condolences for the deceased's family and relatives.

 

[Jorrie]

Hi everyone -- Marcus's son here.

Condolences to you and family.
We know that he will be severely missed your family, but also on this and quite a few other science forums.
Without your dad's inspiration and support, the community-development of the LightCone cosmological calculator would probably not have happened.

 

[Choppy]

I'd like to add my condolences as well. This is very sad news.

 

[vela]

Hi everyone -- Marcus's son here. Thank you all for the love and warmth here in this thread.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Please accept my condolences.

 

[dextercioby]

My deepest condolences to the family. It is a tragic loss to his family and another great member of PF saying goodbye in the saddening way possible (I remember about self Adjoint years ago).

 

[Mordred]

My condolences, Marcus was always able to supply excellent counter points to LCDM in LQC based models. I always enjoyed his counter points to numerous threads where I've supplied one variation to an answer, then he supplied another.

I also enjoyed working with him on the lightcone tutorial development. He had a natural way to extend the flexibility of the calculator well beyond its first appearance.
His true gift was simplifying the complex mathematics for numerous posters who didn't have strong math skills.

He will be missed.

 

[MalcolmB]

What sad news. My deepest condolences go out to Marcus's family, friends and everyone whose lives he touched. I'm deeply indebted to him for his patience and knowledge which have helped me to understand some of the complexities of our wonderful Universe.

RIP Marcus.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

I never really interacted with Marcus, though I read many of his threads ... I'm sorry for the loss of this intelligent mind! @tamwuff May your family heal and receive comfort from those around you.

Though I must say, this is just more proof that PF is such a splendid community--to remember it's members once they have passed.

 

[enorbet]

I know of little else that impacts humans as deeply as death because we all seem so helpless in the facing of it. I am very grateful that you, tamwuff, saw fit to let us know some details during your time of grief. I find that a bit heroic and also somewhat understandable given the influence of a good man like Marcus. Please accept my deeply sincere expression of love and respect for your father for all his drive to share his knowledge so unselfishly. Also trust that once the physical process of grief has has diminished, while you will forever miss him as so many of us here will, you, like us, will find that grief ultimately greatly outpaced by the goodness and brightness of the man and the manner of life he apparently led. This thread is certainly testament to a major aspect of that. Peace to you and yours.

 

[marcusl]

How very sad. Marcus was one of the very first members to welcome me to PF (perhaps because of our shared name, which he commented on). His intellect, patience and professionalism will be missed.

 

[Markus Hanke]

This is very sad, and a stark reminder of our own transcience and mortality. I have not known him for long, but it is safe to say that not only did a remarkable human being pass on, but along with him also an incredible amount of knowledge and understanding on this universe we are all part of. A lifetime to accumulate, yet lost in a moment.

RIP, and condolences to his family and friends.

 

[*now*]

My sincerest condolences to tamwuff and the rest of his family.

He is a legend, like his favourite Marcus, Marcus Varro (Varro Reatinus), the most brilliant polymath of Ancient Roman world. Augustine wrote of that Marcus, homo omnium facile acutissimus et sine ulla dubitatione doctissimus (Aug. Civ. 6,2) [5.1179], (roughly, “The most perspicacious and without doubt, easily most learned”).

Our Marcus wrote of harmony, and "Varro produced a remarkably broad spectrum of works that covered almost all areas of intellectual inquiry... all of which were complemented by his own colourful poetic composition” (Butterfield), with understanding for diverse fields, and considering those verbal and those to do with proportion and motion, harmoniously.

Thank you.

 

[Borg]

@tamwuff. I would like to offer my condolences as well. I haven't had the skills to discuss topics on his level but I always knew what a great contribution he made to this community. I am saddened by the loss of one of our great ones.